Cher

She was told to marry a rich man. She became one instead.

In 1965, Cher became a household name with “I Got You Babe,” a duet with her then-husband Sonny Bono.

The song hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It led to The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and made Cher a TV icon.

She used Bob Mackie’s outrageous costumes to turn herself into a fashion spectacle.

But after their divorce, critics wrote her off as the sidekick who got lucky.

She disagreed.

By the late 1970s, she had built a solo music career with multiple Billboard hits.

Songs that tackled divorce, prostitution, and teenage pregnancy.

Then she flipped industries.

In the 1980s, Cher turned into an award-winning actress.

She played against type in Silkwood (1983) and earned her first Oscar nomination.

By 1988, she won Best Actress for Moonstruck.

She became one of only five people in history to have both a No. 1 Billboard hit and an Academy Award for acting.

And she wasn’t done.

In 1998, Cher released “Believe” and pioneered the now-famous Cher effect: using Auto-Tune not as correction, but as an intentional, robotic sound.

Believe became the biggest-selling single in UK history by a female artist and topped the Billboard Hot 100, 33 years after her first No. 1.

That same year, she launched a world tour.

It made $250M.

In 2017, she began Classic Cher, a Vegas residency in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

In 2018, she joined “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” as Meryl Streep’s mother.

Critics called her performance the highlight of the film.

She recorded Fernando and Super Trouper for the soundtrack.

Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA said, “It’s her song now.”

Cher released an ABBA tribute album, Dancing Queen, later that year.

With 153,000 first-week units, it was the biggest sales week of 2018 for a female pop album.

She launched The Here We Go Again Tour, which ran until COVID hit in 2020.

Rolling Stone said she “can wipe the floor with any pop star from any generation.”

She released a Spanish-language version of Chiquitita, with proceeds going to UNICEF.

She led a five-year effort to rescue Kaavan, a mistreated elephant in a Pakistani zoo.

She met with government officials, negotiated international transport, and personally flew to Cambodia to escort him to a wildlife sanctuary.

The rescue was documented in Cher & The Loneliest Elephant.

In 2023, she released her first Christmas album with features from Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé, Darlene Love, and Tyga.

She’s the only solo artist in history to earn Billboard No. 1s in seven consecutive decades.

She also launched a gelato company (Cherlato), partnered with MAC, UGG, Versace, and Balmain, and, at 76, closed the runway at Paris Fashion Week.

In 1996, her mother told her to marry a rich man.

Her response?

“Mom, I am a rich man.”